Esperanza Spalding, Grammy Best New Artist Winner. Who Is Esperanza SpaldingWho is Esperanza Spalding? The 26-year-old jazz bassist who snatched the Best New Artist Grammy out of the hands of Justin Bieber, that's who.

Drake, Mumford & Sons and Florence and the Machine were also nominated. While a lot of people will spend the wake of Bieber's Best New Artist loss figuring out who Spalding is, there's little doubt she's extremely talented.

"From the time Esperanza Spalding appeared on the scene in 2005, the dynamic singer, bassist, composer and arranger has been heralded as jazz's next big thing," the AP wrote in a lead-up to the Grammys. "Her impressive musicianship has won her White House recital dates, praise from the likes of Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock, and critical acclaim.

"I am new in that I haven't been around that long, and I'm an artist," Spalding told AOL's Spinner in January, following her Grammy nomination. "So it fits. Somebody out there thinks that in their mind that I am one of the best. It's flattering. I'll take it."

Spalding's third album, 'Chamber Music Society,' dropped in the summer of 2010. Co-producer Gil Goldstein told the AP of Spalding's nomination, "I've been kind of joking, saying it would be nice that if once in a while, the best new artist would be someone who reads and writes (music)."

See a music video for Esperanza Spalding's 'Little Fly':

Spinner's in-depth interview with Spalding gave a solid glimpse into her career: "I like to work. I like music," she explained. "The real issue is that the solo career is the odd man out in my life right now. I have much more experience playing bass for other bandleaders than leading my own gigs, and I love being a sideman just as much. That's why I got into music. It wasn't to become my own phenomenon; it was to play music with other people. So whomever wants to play with me, and I can, and I'm into it, and inspired? Then off I go."